Range Resources, of Cannonsburg, was the first company to drill a Marcellus Shale gas well in Pennsylvania. Wednesday it became the first to disclose the chemicals used in the fracking process at each of its wells.

It’s a public relations move of monumental proportion.

The identification of the chemicals - added to millions of gallons of “frack water” pumped into deep wells to fracture shale and release natural gas - has become a rallying cry of many who have seen the documentary film “Gasland.”

That film - which premiered on HBO last month - questions the safety of the fracking process and suggests there are over 500 different drilling chemicals that might pollute drinking water.

While any single well might use only a handful of the 500 chemicals, and even though the chemicals are pumped more than a mile below the water table, the industry assurances of safety have been countered - with effectiveness - by the film’s claim that the industry keeps the identity of the chemicals secret.

The longer the drilling industry ignored the movie-induced clamor to identify fracking chemicals, the guiltier it appeared of even the film’s most incendiary insinuations.

Range Resources aims to take that weapon out of the anti-drilling arsenal.

“Range is concerned what Pennsylvanians think about our industry,” said the company’s CEO John Pinkerton. “We understand that there is the perception among some that the additives used in hydraulic fracturing present a risk to the public... Our voluntary initiative will increase transparency and allow people to better understand that the Marcellus Shale is a valuable resource that can be pursued responsibly and for the benefit of all the citizens of Pennsylvania.”

Ray Walker, Range’s senior vice president for the Marcellus Shale Division, said “As our website will make clear, all of the additives we use are highly diluted, carefully managed and in many cases commonly used in our everyday lives. We are hopeful that our voluntary disclosure will help dispel the misconceptions that have persisted and allow Range and others to deliver on the potential of this extraordinary resource base.”

“It’s probably a long time coming,” said David LaTorre, a Harrisburg-based public relations specialist who does not have direct ties to the industry. “One thing the Marcellus industry does and does very well is create thousands of jobs when the economy’s at its worst in over a generation, but we live in a green era, and people want to know those jobs don’t come with an ultimate price. Safety is the number one concern people have... and this will likely go a long way toward dispelling a lot of the myths and concerns” spawned by Gasland.

Secretary of Environmental Protection John Hanger noted that his agency last month became the first in the country to post a comprehensive list of additives used in fracking, and said the “announcement that Range intends to go even further on this issue is welcome news, and represents a model that other operators in the Marcellus must follow without further delay.”

That was quickly echoed by environmental groups.

Elizabeth Maclin, Vice President for Eastern Conservation at Trout Unlimited, said “If Range Resources is planning to disclose the chemicals it uses in its drilling operations, there is no reason other companies can’t do the same. With thousands of wells being drilled throughout Pennsylvania, knowing what is in fracking fluids is an important step toward protecting the state’s natural resources.”

Maclin called for disclosure to be mandatory under law.

Jan Jarrett, president of the environmental group PennFuture, said Range Resources was taking a risk because some people are likely to be alarmed when they see some of the chemicals on the list, but she added “transparency is a way of building confidence in what the industry is telling us.”

She said Range has a history of stepping up to the plate and “trying to raise the bar” and she commended them.

However, there are many companies involved in drilling the Marcellus, said Jarrett, “with very different corporate cultures and very different attitudes toward the environment.”

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